Award-winning Matty Christian film headed to Cannes

After a year on the U.S. film festival circuit, Raising Matty Christian, the multi-award-winning documentary directed by Christian de Rezendes of Breaking Branches Pictures, will be participating in the Doc Corner of the 2015 Cannes International Film Festival in France, one of the world’s most prestigious film events. As part of the Cannes Doc Corner, Raising Matty Christian will screen for potential purchase on Monday, May 18, upping its chances at worldwide sales and distribution.

Boston-based entertainment attorney Vinca Jarrett, who has attended Cannes an estimated 15 times, and the film’s executive producer, Allie Christian of Canton, who is also the mother of the film’s subject, will attend the festival as representatives of the project.

Jarrett, who has counseled films that include The Fourth Kind, The Perfect Game, and Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tommy Ungerer Story, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2013, notes, “A film’s best chance of finding a wider audience outside its own community of supporters is to screen and promote itself at a major market — and Cannes is the biggest of them all.”

“This film has demonstrated real potential with its multiple local festival awards to have impact on more than just the local community who knew Matty,” said Jarrett. “It’s a story of anti-bullying, of what a human being can achieve in spite of the physical odds against him; it’s a story of a mother’s unstoppable love, and it’s a story of the impact one individual can have on so many other people’s lives. It’s a universal story that I think other cultures and people will be able to relate to, learn from, and really enjoy the powerful message and filmmaking created by de Rezendes.”

For Allie Christian, who conceived of and financed the film along with her husband, Jerry, going to the Cannes International Film Festival with a film she is involved with, and which spreads the message of her son’s life, is truly a chance of a lifetime.

“I sometimes think I won the winning lottery ticket when I found Christian [de Rezendes], who found his inner voice when making this important film about my son,” she said. “We could not have dreamed it could turn out so well, and it has been an amazing journey for us all.”

Jerry Christian, owner of Republic Plumbing Supply in Norwood, where Matty served as a sales manager, looks pragmatically at the success of the film. “My son inspired so many and worked hard to be more than what most people expected,” he said. “And [he] showed us all what can be achieved if you really want to make life count in spite of all odds. I could not be prouder.”

Directed, filmed and edited by de Rezendes, Raising Matty Christian celebrates the life and legacy of Canton’s own Matthew G. Christian — a beloved son, brother and friend who overcame physical disabilities to become a world-class athlete and an inspiration to all who knew him.

Drawing on archival footage from Christian family home movies, as well as interviews from Matty’s family, friends, neighbors and mentors, the film documents the challenges that Matty faced in navigating the world with four partial limbs and how his parents “raised him,” according to de Rezendes, “to face his challenges head on and the inspiring achievements that followed as a result…

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Posted by Canton Citizen on May 14 2015. Filed under News. Both comments and pings are currently closed.